B. C. Talbott. The Handmaiden. Word and Spirit, 2022.

“Kathryn never had to work the people up. The Holy Spirit was there before she came on.”
                —Gene Martin (112)
“If I ever walk on that stage and the Holy Spirit is not there, that will be the last time.”
                —Kathryn Kuhlman (123)

The Handmaiden is a biography of famous healing evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman, the first in many years. It has potential for ministering to its readers.

As best it can, The Handmaiden covers Rev. Kuhlman’s upbringing and early life. It does a delicate, if a bit vague, job on her marriage. Primarily, though, it describes her gradual growth in ministry, first working with her older sister and brother-in-law who were themselves itinerant evangelists then with a friend traveling as the God’s Girls duo. We see her establishing an evangelistic and healing ministry first in Idaho, then in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. (The book is written in a very impressionistic style, so it is hard to tell which came first, Pennsylvania or California, or maybe they overlapped or flipped back and forth.)

The book’s strength is sharing on Rev. Kuhlman’s character. From this book the reviewer is reminded of Jonathan Edwards or D. L. Moody—not necessarily in theological acumen but in their seeking to be used by the Holy Spirit regardless of what is going on around them. This book has the potential for challenging the reader to ask himself or herself, am I really being sold out for Jesus? How much am I holding back? Could God use me more?

Kuhlman would write in a letter:

There is no limit God can do with a person, providing that one will not touch the glory. God is still waiting for one who will be more fully devoted to Him than any who has ever lived; who will be willing to be nothing that Christ may be all; who will grasp God’s purposes and will take his humility and His faith—His love and His power, without hindering, let God do great things. (176, italics in original)

While the purpose of the book is to tell Rev. Kuhlman’s life story, and that it does, more or less, probably the two strongest parts of the book are excerpts from two sermons. One sermon is from Kathryn Kuhlman herself that really reveals something of the nature of God. I said to myself as I was reading it, “This is really anointed. This is worth sharing.” The other was the eulogy given by Oral Roberts at Kathryn’s funeral. That tells us not only something of her character but something of the nature of the God she served.

The impressionistic style the author adopts can be a little hard to follow in places. For example, about halfway through the book we were told Rev. Kuhlman was 58 years old in 1965. That at least gave me an idea of when she was born, even though there were still spots where it was hard to tell which events happened in which decade.

Talbott based much of her information on interviews from co-workers and others who knew her who were still alive as well as documentary sources and extensive watching of clips of her television show. From those sources, especially from her co-workers, we get a sense of what she was like and get a sense of the source of her strength.

Currently, the standard biography is Kuhlman’s own “as told to” autobiography by Jamie Buckingham, Daughter of Destiny. With some polish, The Handmaiden could supplant it, or at the very least, provide some additional insight into the ministry of this twentieth-century saint.